1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of a tank used as a receiver tank employed in a cooling cycle and, in particular, it relates to a tank aggregate body in which a communicating portion communicates between the inside and the outside of the receiver tank and the tank primary body, formed as an integrated unit of the tank primary body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Receiver tanks employed in a cooling cycle in the prior art include those that are constituted by forming a cylindrical tank primary body through deep drawing, forging or the like and closing off its open ends with caps and those that are constituted by cutting prefabricated pipe-shaped material to a specific length and closing off its opening portions at both ends with caps.
For instance, the receiver tank disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H-267478 is constituted of a cylindrical primary body and lids that cover both ends of the primary body and is directly mounted at the header pipe of a condenser. An indented portion is formed at the primary body of the receiver tank at a position that faces opposite the header tank so that this indented portion forms a coolant passage between the primary body and the header pipe, with a passage hole communicating with the lower portion of the coolant passage and a passage hole communicating with the upper portion of the coolant passage formed at the header pipe and the receiver tank to guide the coolant from the header pipe to the receiver tank via the coolant passage.
When a cylindrical tank primary body is formed through deep drawing, forging or the like or by cutting a pipe-shaped material, a piping or a separate member for communicating between the header pipe at the condenser and the receiver tank is required, necessitating extra work such as further machining the tank primary body.
In contrast, the receiver tank disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H2-267478 described above offers an advantage in that the coolant passage is formed at the time that the receiver tank is bonded to the header tank. However, since the coolant passage is formed between the header pipe and the receiver tank, the shape of the header pipe and the position at which the coolant passage is formed are subject to restrictions, thereby posing a problem in that a great degree of freedom in layout cannot be afforded.